“We’re looking forward to having Christian continue his development on the court here with Coach Scott and our team,” said Cavs general manager Chris Grant in a statement. “He has worked hard, and we were very encouraged by his recent performance in summer league.”

Gradysmanldy wrote:Just as exciting as the other summer league stiff we signed.

Who do you want them to sign? Matt Barnes?

Young talent accomplishes two things. Makes us shitty and gives them court time to see if they can grow. Give me all the projects you can sign right now. And play them.

Here is the main issue I have with the "tank as much as you can and play for ping-pong balls" approach. And it has nothing to do with the L.A. Clippers and botched draft picks.

My problem is, who is going to prevent the organization from going to seed? Who is going to prevent a culture of losing from seeping in?

If you have a collection of talented young players, great. The Cavs, in theory, had a collection of young, talented players when they had Carlos Boozer, Ricky Davis and Darius Miles. The Browns have had assorted collections of young talent over the past decade. Didn't stop those teams from rudderless suck. And that's before we get to the blank slate that is the current Cleveland Indians.

If you tear down the building, yank out the support beams, bust up all the cement and start over from slag and soil, you really lose any sense of organizational guidance that some veteran pillars might be able to provide.

You might emerge as the next OKC Thunder. Or you might emerge with a roster that is a collection of clueless kids who are mostly concerned with getting their touches and getting their paychecks.

Somebody has to stick around and teach the next generation of Cavs players how to win. Byron Scott can do that to a point, but if the Cavs lose for long enough, he'll be gone, too. And then we really might have to endure the Kelvin Sampson Era, with crowds of 3,000 at The Q and management shipping off J.J. Hickson for beads and trinkets because he's become too much of a cap burden on a losing team.

^Good to see another poster pointing out the possible setback of blow-up philosophy. The plan is not without risks. The Chicago Bulls spent 12 seasons trying to become what they are today, and that franchise and city is much more desirable the Cleveland.

IMHO you should only attempt to "suck" for the upcoming year. Them going out and looking at Barnes and his ilk has me baffled. Go into this season with Mo, Jamo, and Andy with Coach Scott and see what happens. Nothing should be added to this team outside of young talent with high upside. During the season you entertain all offers for players such as the above, take any ending money you have and try to flip it for talent with longer deals, and use that trade exception to get a young guy with potential, picks, or a bad contract that you know you can flip in the same manner.

I wait till about 25 games into the season before I decide fully on taking what I can get for our assets, or trying to add to what we have.

The Cavaliers also had yound talent in Cedric Henderson, Brevin Knight, Derek Anderson, and Big Z. They even had the vet who had chops in Kemp. That turned out great! Super-plans are only known after the fact, and trying to copy one teams success when none of the variables remain constant seems silly.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

Orenthal wrote:The Cavaliers also had yound talent in Cedric Henderson, Brevin Knight, Derek Anderson, and Big Z. They even had the vet who had chops in Kemp. That turned out great! Super-plans are only known after the fact, and trying to copy one teams success when none of the variables remain constant seems silly.

I enjoyed the Kemp years, at least 1998 anyway. As for what came after, not so much. But no matter what approach they take, it's an uphill climb and a bit of a pipe dream to think that they can actually win an NBA championship anyway. The league has had 8 teams win it since 1980. The upper tier free agents are never going to come to Cleveland, just like they're never going to come to Milwaukee, Indiana, Sac-Town, Utah, and a number of other markets. At least the next prick won't actually be from Ohio when he bolts/ rejects the Cavs overtures. Beyond the Trinity of Douche in Miami, you know "friend to the little man" David Stern will do his best to shepherd Durant or whoever the latest phenom is to LA to keep the Lakers viable when Kobe retires.

The deck is definitely stacked against this franchise in this sport. Maybe the best we can hope for is the year in, year out competitiveness of Jerry Sloan's Jazz teams. I certainly trust enough in Gilbert as an owner for that to be a possibility.

"I feel very strongly that the name Whalers is synonymous with Connecticut hockey. The Cleveland Browns should always be the Cleveland Browns."

That's pretty much true on some level for all of sports, sans the NFL that strives for that parity.

In the NBA, teams like Utah and Portland remain viable contenders because of solid management practices and good drafting. Orlando has had a few years with a legitimate shot. OKC will be together in place for a LONG time with the KD extension and his burgeoning talent.

Unfortunately for the Cavs, we need the young peices to build around, now. And to get them.....we're going to have to lose, and THEN pray. Losing is only 50% of the equation, need the luck with it too.

Check me out at Dawgsbynature, where I write stuff, or @twitter as Josh Finney.